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ARTSBEAT; Library of Congress Honors 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Bambi'

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Published: December 28, 2011

Hannibal Lecter is going away for a long time -- and so are Bambi, Forrest Gump and the adorable moppet played by Jackie Coogan in a classic Charlie Chaplin feature: the movies featuring these characters are among the 25 cinematic works that have been added to the National Film Registry, the Library of Congress is to announce on Wednesday.

These films, which include Jonathan Demme's ''Silence of the Lambs,'' Walt Disney's animated feature ''Bambi,'' Robert Zemeckis's ''Forrest Gump'' and Chaplin's ''The Kid,'' as well as Billy Wilder's ''Lost Weekend,'' John Cassavetes's ''Faces'' and John Ford's ''The Iron Horse,'' have been selected for preservation ''because of their enduring significance to American culture,'' James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, said in a statement. The 25 movies were chosen from 2,228 nominated by the public this year.

In addition to films like George Pal's 1953 adaptation of ''War of the Worlds,'' Robert Rodriguez's independent breakthrough ''El Mariachi'' and Martin Ritt's biographical film ''Norma Rae,'' this year's selections include Jordan Belson's abstract short film ''Allures''; ''A Computer Animated Hand,'' a 1972 short created by the future Pixar co-founder Edwin Catmull; ''A Cure for Pokeritis,'' a 1912 silent short featuring John Bunny and Flora Finch; a set of home movies made by the sibling dancer-choreographers Fayard and Harold Nicholas in the 1930s and '40s; and the 1959 version of ''Porgy and Bess'' starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.